Pheremone article

[cinderfallen]

I have a 1999 article on the research on sex pheremones that's pretty comprehensive of the field. A lot of stuff I've seen referenced in pheremone forums are in this article. (Written by the guys who did the t-shirt study.) This is a followup plus goes into other sources if you want to look them up further. I thought it might be a little tricky to get if you don't have access to academic archives, so I'm offering via email to anyone who wants.

 

This version of the tshirt study is that they claim a specific pheremone that signals symmetrical features--not just general attractiveness.

 

This study as well as others I've read suggests that women on oral contraceptives won't respond to pheremones in general, which perceived and reacted on by hormonal changes. (I claim personal agreement to this.)

 

(And it's kind of obvious I need to write some papers, isn't it?)

 

• The Scent of Symmetry A Human Sex Pheromone that Signals Fitness? Evolution and Human Behavior , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , Pages 175 - 201R . Thornhill
  

 

A previous study by the authors showed that the body scent of men who have greater body bilateral symmetry is rated as more attractive by normally ovulating (non-pill-using) women during the period of highest fertility based on day within the menstrual cycle. Women in low-fertility phases of the cycle and women using hormone-based contraceptives do not show this pattern. The current study replicated these findings with a larger sample and statistically controlled for men's hygiene and other factors that were not controlled in the first study. The current study also examined women's scent attractiveness to men and found no evidence that men prefer the scent of symmetric women. We propose that the scent of symmetry is an honest signal of phenotypic and genetic quality in the human male, and chemical candidates are discussed. In both sexes, facial attractiveness (as judged from photos) appears to predict body scent attractiveness to the opposite sex. Women's preference for the scent associated with men's facial attractiveness is greatest when their fertility is highest across the menstrual cycle. The results overall suggest that women have an evolved preference for sires with good genes.

 

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Edited December 8, 2008 by cinderfallen